Month: May 2015

Participating in the Nit del Vi in Palma

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Nit del vi 1

Last night, we had the great pleasure and honour of introducing our two new 2014 wines, Cocó Barber white and S’Aragall Blau rosé, to the public in Palma de Mallorca. It was the first time ever that we participated in a trade event in our island capital.

White_rose_3m

The occasion was the 9th Nit del Vi, an annual presentation of great wines from small vineyards, organized by Petits Cellers and Wines of Mallorca.

Nit del vi 2

We joined another 32 bodegas from all over the island offering tastings of some 160 wines from recent vintages. Our wines are the only ones from the region of Santanyí.

Nit del vi 4

Our two new wines were well received by a well informed public from Mallorca, the Spanish mainland and also a surprisingly large number of visitors from an international background, such as Germany, the UK, Scandinavia and even New Zealand, to name but a few.

Nit del vi 3

We shared a table with Luis Armero from Armero i Adrover in Felanitx but we might have our own stall this time next year. We’ll see.

Thank you, Luis.

Presenting Our New Organic Rosé Wine S’Aragall Blau 2014

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S'Aragall Blau 1

Our new organic Rosé wine S’Aragall Blau 2014 is a composition of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes with a dash of grapes of the Syrah variety. All grapes were harvested by hand in the second week of September of last year on our land at Son Alegre near Santanyi in the southeast of Mallorca where the coastal hinterland of Santanyí joins the hills of the Mallorcan Sierra de Llevante (altitude 61 – 72 m). The vineyard benefits from the Sierra’s moderating impact on climate as well as from the thermal conditions of the coastal area, at 7 km from the Mediterranean Sea to the South-East and 12 km distant to the West.

Cabernet Sauvignon

The vinification of our S’Aragall Blau 2014 Rosé wine was conducted at a controlled temperature of between 15 and 18º C during the fermentation process with 20 days of maceration. The fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks. The aging process occurred over six months in tanks plus a further three months in the bottle.

Merlot

The wine was bottled after a gentle clarification and filtration in March 2015. The alcohol content is 13.5% vol. Only 8,000 bottles were produced. If you are a small vineyard you can’t expect a high output in volume.

Syrah

The S’Aragall Blau 2014 Rosé wine is best served chilled at a temperature of 8º C and is best consumed during the warm days of Spring and the hot days of the Mallorcan Summer.

S'Aragall Blau

The design of this wine’s label artwork was created by Aina Noguera Tugores. Thank you, Aina.

Hailing Permaculture

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Permaculture Son Alegre Santanyí Mallorca

We could tell you lots about Son Alegre wines, Mallorcan wines in general or our grape varieties and so forth but we prefer to direct you to the basics of wine making. Soil is the main ingredient for wine making, believe it or not. There would be no wine without the soil and there would be no wine of any quality if wine makers did not respect the soil, if we did not regard nature as a holistic organism, if farmers did not esteem the elements and if society did not adopt the philosophy of working with instead of against nature.

According to Bruce Charles “Bill” Mollison (born 1928 in Stanley, Tasmania):

Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.

Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison, Tasmania, Australia: Tagari (1991)

Yesterday, May 3rd 2015, Vinya Son Alegre was invited to participate in an event celebrating the International Day of Permaculture at Caroline Sulzer’s Finca Som Terra near Cas Concos des Cavaller (Felanitx). We are glad we went and we are proud to be part of a movement of sustainable, regenerative and ecologic agriculture here in Mallorca.

Som Terra

Finca Som Terra and other Mallorcan setups, also related to Permaculture, such as Escola Kumar in Marratxí, Finca Son Barrina in Llubí and Ses Aigües in S’Horta, are doing a terrific job in trying to apply the methods of Permaculture to areas of daily living in a more sustainable, economic, ecologic and efficient manner. Check out Finca Som Terra on Facebook, PermaMed on the Internet or watch the following video clip on Vimeo.

Permaculture and organic agriculture ought not to be, however, celebrated only one day a year. Nature and our respect for it should be an ongoing concern, year in, year out.

Permaculture Son Alegre Santanyí Mallorca 2

At Son Alegre we are trying to treat our soil in a responsible, sustainable way by doing very little. We do not plough our fields, we do not use commercial fertilizers, we do not spray any chemicals nor other, non-organic matter. In short, we simply allow nature to do its job, to fulfill its integrated and holistic task even if that may lead to smaller quantities and to a lower profit margin. Our respect for nature has so far given us good harvests. It may not always be perfect, but it is always in accordance with our sanity, health and peace of mind. And it is always in accordance with the way farming was done for thousands of years – sane, natural and humane.